SHS rallly raises awareness of gun violence at schools

Posted on Mar 2, 2018 at 2:12 p.m.

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Superior Telegram

Hundreds of Superior High School students gathered in the gymnasium for 19 minutes Friday to raise awareness of gun violence at schools.

"This is not a pro- or anti-gun rally," said senior Joe Carter, who organized the rally with Devon Sullivan-Pettit. " We are just bringing you guys here today so that we can get our message out and create awareness about gun violence."The point of the rally was to make the school safer, he said, for everyone in this generation and those to come."We are the youth," Sullivan-Pettit said. "When we come together, nothing can stop us."They initially planned to hold an 18-minute rally in memory of the 18 school shootings that have taken place in the nation. That number jumped to 19 after news broke of Friday's fatal shooting at Central Michigan University."You don't think it can happen here, but it really can," Carter said. "So what we need to do is to come together and just be kinder to each and every body here. It all starts with us as students."He asked the students to submit ideas on how they can make SHS a safer place and what change they would like to see happen at the school.For the last 11 minutes and 20 seconds, students sat in silence. A few held up signs --"Am I next?," "No More Silence, End Gun Violence," "Guns don't kill people. People kill people.""I'm very proud of the way the students handled themselves today," said SHS Principal Greg Posewitz.The entire event was student-driven, he said, and those who attended were respectful.